Barcelona star, Lionel Messi has denied knowledge of any illegal activity, while testifying in a tax case in Barcelona.

The Argentine and his father have both been charged with three counts of tax fraud worth €4.1 million dating back to 2007 to 2009 period.

Court proceedings began on Thursday, but Messi appeared in person to testify, just four days before he is due to represent Argentina in the Copa America Centenario in the United States.

The 28-year-old denied knowledge of any fraudulent activities, stating that football was his only focus.

“I never asked my dad about these things,” Messi is quoted as telling the court by AS.

“The truth is that, as I said before, I trusted him and the lawyers. I didn’t know anything about it, I just played football.”

When questioned about the existence of a company called Jenbril, registered in Uruguay to handle payments relating to his image rights, Messi said: “I didn’t know I was a member and manager of this company, I signed it because he [Jorge Messi] said so and I trusted him and the lawyers.

“All I knew was that I was signing a deal with sponsors to do adverts, photo shoots and things like that.

“I remember we went to a notary but I was 18 when I signed it and as you can imagine, I was in a different world. I don’t remember anything about it.”

Jorge Messi repeatedly told the court his son “knew nothing about it”.

And Arsenal midfielder Ramsey hopes the finals will be just the start of a long period of success.

He told Omnisport: “We have been waiting a long time for this, and for me it was a goal of mine to try to help Wales qualify for a major championships and having done that, I am so proud that I have done it.

“With this team we have, we are creating history, and hopefully, we can do it for many more years.”

Former Cardiff City star Ramsey is also confident about Wales’ chances at the finals, citing their success in the qualifying campaign.

“We have done well in the group stages. We have beaten and drawn against Belgium, who I think are in the top three teams in the world, so we can compete against those sort of teams.

Cosby who will be arraigned in July could face up to ten years behind bars if found guilty.

A Pennsylvania judge ruled in late May that there was a possibility Cosby had drugged Andrea Constand with Quaaludes at his Philadelphia mansion twelve years ago and stuck his hand down her pants, fondling her while she was unconscious.

Andrea Constand accused Cosby of drugging her

The deposition was made in 2005 and 2006 and only released to the public last year after Constand brought a lawsuit against him. The comedian agreed to having sex with her though he rejected her rape allegation.

Cosby also admitted to having sex with another woman, Therese Serignese, in Las Vegas in 1976 – who was 19 years-old at the time – as well as being masturbated with lotion from another teenager who was one of the models an agency sent to him in 2000.

Bill Cosby could spend ten years behind bars if found guilty

Constand’s attorney, Dolores Troiani, asked Cosby about the quaaludes he gave to Serignese to make her “high”: “She said that she believes she was not in the position to consent to intercourse after you gave her the drug. Do you believe that is correct?”

The 78 year-old replied rather disturbingly: “I don’t know”.”How many years ago are we talking about? 197(6)?… I meet Ms. Picking in Las Vegas. She meets me backstage. I give her quaaludes. We then have sex.”

According to BET, In 2014, allegations came to light from more than a dozen women that the comedian had sexually assaulted them. While the statute of limitations had passed for most of the cases, meaning Cosby would not face criminal charges, the allegations seriously damaged his reputation and led to NBC and Netflix canceling pending deals.

Toolz Pleased With Small White Wedding – Celebrity radio personality Tolu ‘Toolz’ Oniru has revealed her delight at her successful white wedding.

Toolz Pleased With Small White Wedding

The Beat FM OAP wrote on her Instagram: “I’ve always wanted a small white wedding…something quite intimate where family and friends could really let the hair down to party and celebrate this special day with us….Where there would be dance battles lol, and some ppl would dance till they fell over (you know yaself)”

She thanked hubby Tunde Demuren for making her dream come true, adding: “It was beautiful, gorgeous and everything I wanted. Thank you to you and your team of super soldiers for making sure nothing went wrong! May God bless you for us. A big thank you to everyone who came through to show us love…I was (and still am) so incredibly happy.”

She also had kind words for producer Cobhams Asuquo, who sang for her and Tunde’s first dance as a married couple. She wrote: “I actually have no words to describe how much I appreciate you @cobhamsasuquo – but like I said if we have twins, you can soo have one. You are awesome and having you sing for our first dance was a dream come true.xx”

Cynthia Morgan definitely revealed a lot about herself in this new episode of HF TV’s ‘Da Chat’ hosted by Zinnia. She gives inner scoops and addresses misconceptions about her, she talks about fake breasts and even let’s Zinnia feel them, she talks about how her accent was all manufactured locally, she gave us reason to suspect that Peter Okoye may have actually been right about discovering even while P-Square saga, cyber bullying and exclusive information about her forthcoming album.

Only a few weeks after releasing the highly rated remix to Fantasy featuring Iyanya, Dice Ailes returns with yet another top-notch effort covering of Drake’s ‘Controlla’ but giving it a major twist by featuring ultimate rap king M.I Abaga.

Dice Ailes is definitely making a very audible claim for his spot on the scene with this effort re-fixed by Chocolate City’s in-house producer and artiste, Ckay.

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp saga keeps getting interesting by the minute. Ms Heard claimed Depp’s bodyguards did nothing to stop their boss when he physically abused her during the Iphone attack, Saturday, (May, 21) yet these same bodyguards have refuted that claim calling it false.

Another interesting side of it is, the police officers who were called to the family home on the same day said Heard had no bruises on her face or any part of her for that matter as there was no obvious signs of violence. Amber didn’t file a report.

Yet, the web was somehow filled with images of Amber’s bruised face and shattered home.

Their bodyguards, Jerry Judge and Sean Bett also revealed that throughout Johnny and Amber’s 15-month marriage, the actress was always flying into a fit of rage at Depp. They said she screamed at him, threw bottles and charged at him. They both claim to have pulled her off Depp frequently.

Amber claimed she had sustained injuries after Johnny threw an iPhone at her but the guards and police officers who visited the home said she bore no visible injuries.

Cops said Amber had no bruise when they visited after her 911 call

Yet, Amber’s court documents filed Friday, (May, 27) claimed, “Johnny stormed at me once again, demanding that I get up and stand. He did this — about ten times. Johnny’s security team, that included Judge Jerry, entered the condominium at this time, but they stood back without saying or doing anything. I yelled to Jerry to please help me and that if Johnny hit me one more time I was going to call the police. I heard Jerry say, ‘Boss, please.’ But Johnny continued screaming and breaking things, finally leaving the condominium.”

While she claimed shards of broken glass were on the floor and even submitted photos in her legal documents, the guards and cops also insist there was no broken glass, with the officers adding there was nothing amiss when they entered their home following her 911 call.

She earlier refused to allow the cops into the home and when they did, it did not looked destroyed.

Judging by Amber’s accusations of physical assault, LAPD sources and several doctors said if Depp had thrown an iPhone at her, then followed up with hair-pulling and hitting as she claimed, there would have been swelling, redness and obvious bruises. The officers saw nothing.

Amber had also screamed “Stop hitting me!!!” and when both bodyguards bolted into the room in a split second – as they were right outside, they saw Johnny in the kitchen and Amber on the couch in the living room. Both guards say Johnny was at least 20 feet away from her.

Depp and Amber knew the guards were in the entryway and the actor described his enstranged wife’s scream as a badly executed attempted setup.

Manchester City have completed the acquisition of Dortmund midfielder, Ilkay Gundogan on a four-year contract.

The EPL club paid a sum of £20 million plus add-ons for the 25-year-old midfielder.

And despite dislocating his kneecap in May, the deal has gone through, with the Germany international the first signing under Guardiola at City.

“I’m thrilled to have signed for Manchester City,” he told City’s official website. “When I learned of City’s interest my heart was set on coming here and things have moved very quickly.

“I have loved my time with Borussia Dortmund and I would like to thank the club and the supporters for the five very happy years I spent there.

“They gave me a platform to play on and I became a better player because of the belief, patience and trust they showed in me.

“Now I have a new challenge and that is to achieve great things with City. The opportunity to work with a coach like Pep Guardiola is something I am really looking forward to and I am flattered to be the first signing the Club has made this summer.

“I can promise the City fans I will give everything to help us win titles both in England and the Champions League. These are exciting times.

“I have my best years ahead of me and I think we can achieve great things together. I can’t wait to begin this new chapter in my career.”

Adina Thembi’s single “Coastal Vibes” featuring rapper Trigmatic, has been making huge waves all over Ghana since its release.

The Ghanaian afropop singer who goes by the full name Adina Thembi-Ndamse was the winner of ‘Stars of The Future’ in 2008 – a competition which took place in her mother’s hometown Ghana.

The sexy singer as proven by the pictures below, was born in Liberia to a South African Father and Ghanaian mother – this explains her extoic looks – the typical ‘coke bottle’ shape.

In her newly released photos, Adina shows off an understated-yet-sexy and fun side which we are expecting to see more of as the months roll by. In these pictures, Adina is wearing braids, styled in different ways, her big doe eyes (her best feature) is gently rimmed with black eyeliner and her full lips covered in dark red and neutral lipgloss.

The month of June will see Adina release her next single, produced by multiple award-winning music producer, Killbeatz. With a collaborative event with Miss Malaika Ghana 2015 in the near future and a possible record deal on the table just to mention a few of the things lined up for the Afropop star, it seems 2016 will be one of her busiest years yet.

Check out Adina’s gorgeous photos as well as two of her music videos, one is of her latest single, ‘Coastal Vibes ‘and the other is ‘Boom Boom Beat’ both released about six months ago on youtube.

The announcement was made, Wednesday, (June, 1), as E! reported it will be releasing a brand new six-episode docu-series titled “Rob & Chyna”.

The name of the show hasn’t been concluded so what the producers have for now is just a working title. Any suggestions? ChyRob or RobbingChyna? No?

Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna’s reality show will have cameras trailing their hurricane of a romance and well publicized mixed-emotion relationship.

Rob Kardashian and fiancee, Blac Chyna get reality spin-off

E! confirmed each one-hour show of the six-episode series will follow the lovebirds from their engagement to Chyna’s pregnancy, and everything in between with the ‘Rob & Chyna’ spin-off culminating in a special feature of the birth of their first child together.

The show will be produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions and Bunim/Murray Productions, and is set to premiere on E! later this year. Rob and Chyna will also serve as co-executive producers.

Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President of Original Programming & Development at E!, said in a press release, “Very few love stories have created as much pop culture buzz as Rob and Chyna’s, and we are thrilled to see Rob in such a happy place. We are excited to share the next chapter in their relationship.”

The story-line is, in April, 29 year-old Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna who have been friends for quite a long time announced they were engaged to be married. Exactly one month later, in May, the couple announced 28 year-old Chyna was with child.

Rob and Chyna were friends even before they hooked up, like Kim and Kanye

Rob’s relationship with Chyna has caused some distress with his family as the Kardashian clan shared their refusal before acceptance of his affair in previous KUWTK episodes so what better way to go about it than have his own show?

Still, there’s the weird triangle of Tyga who was Chyna’s ex and father to her son King Cairo dating Rob’s half-sister Kylie Jenner.

Tyga and Kylie Jenner ended their relationship last month and it has been rumored the family had to choose who to axe between Blac and Tyga. Tyga got the boot and Kylie dumped him.

Just what the world needs! Another Kardashian reality show. Well, we’ll definitely watch this as I am sure it will make for great viewing, and gossip.

In an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, the Minister said farmers have been forced to quit the North East due to the level of insecurity in the region.

He said: “People talk about the price of tomato but they forget one thing; they forget that the price of tomato today is a direct result of the fact that we have lost two years harvest to Boko Haram insurgency.

“Most of the people you see riding Okada (motorcycles) in Lagos are people who would have been in the farm to produce consumable items.”

When asked if he was convinced that the tomato scarcity could be attributed to insurgency, he said: “Do you farm where there is war? We have lost two seasons of harvest in addition we have had very poor rainfall last year and this year.

These are the combined responsible for the scarcity of tomato. Go and ask economists and agriculturists, they will tell you.”

The staple has been very expensive in the last two months as a result of acute scarcity, which the federal government blamed on tuta absoluta, a pest also known as ‘tomato ebola’.

Meanwhile, several Nigerian netizens have taken to Twitter to weigh in on the statement made by the Minister.

See tweets below:

Hello Twitter..
What did I miss?
Lai Mohammed and his list?
Or Boko Haram and our tomatoes..
There’s nothing I won’t hear from dis govt sha!

After premiering on ‘Channel O’ somedays back, Kiernan Jarryd Forbes better known by his artistic name ‘AKA’ finally puts out the official video for his ghetto life themed single ‘Dreamwork’ which features one of South Africa’s new rap sensations ‘Yanga’.

AKA uses the visuals to explain some of the untold South African gangster story, and with the help of his creative team, the video is a most watch.

SaharaReporters also reported that the cancellation is not unrelated to security threats to the President from a newly formed militant group, Niger Delta Avengers who had threatened to kill the President should he step foot in the Niger Delta region.

The group had said: “Buhari is trying to visit Ogoniland, but he should sign his death warrant before coming to Port Harcourt or try to visit any state of the Niger Delta community, Biafra land.”

“We are starting a dance he cannot finish. We shall dance like vultures. He [Buhari] has dared to wake a sleeping lion, but I promise him this time around if he tries to step his foot in any community of the Niger Delta, in Biafraland, he will not go back alive. Any Niger Deltan who will try to walk with Buhari shall also go to his grave that day. This is our assurance.”

The messages which ET got from a source, claim Heard was being physically battered by Depp as far back as May 2014 – before the couple tied the knot.

The chat began with a recipient purported to be Depp’s PA, Stephen, apologizing on behalf of someone, assumed to be Depp.

Amber Heard claimed she was abused by Depp

Stephen began the conversation, “Think he’s just texted you. He’s incredibly apologetic and knows that he has done wrong. He wants to get better now. He’s been very explicit about that this morning. Feel like we’re at a critical juncture.”

The recipient of the text, suspected to be Amber replied, “Yes but I don’t know how to be around him after what he did to me yesterday. I don’t know if I can stay with him.”

The chat continued with the Depp’s purported assistant saying, “He wants to see you so much. He’s distraught.”

The reply which is assumed to be written by Amber said, “Don’t worry about the flights. I’ll be taking care of them myself. Thank you. Look, he thinks he doesn’t deserve this. Obviously he has no idea what he did or the extent that he did it. If someone was truly honest with him about how bad it really was, he’d be appalled. The man Johnny”…

Heard continued, “And definitely wouldn’t say to me he doesn’t deserve it. I’m sad that he doesn’t have a better way to really know the severity of his actions yesterday. Unfortunately for me, I remember in full detail everything that happened.”

Her recipient, still assumed to be Stephen replied that the focus of their conversation, Depp, couldn’t remember the events which the purported Stephen and Amber are talking about.

The man claiming to be Depp’s assistant responded, “He was appalled. When I told him he kicked you, he cried. It was disgusting. And he knows it. I wasn’t with him when he”... and the message broke off.

The chat with Stephen continued, “Sent you the second text. He read it to me and I said it was the wrong text to send. He then sent the third one and sat and cried again after on the bed. He’s a little lost boy. And needs all the help he can get. He is so very sorry, as he should be”

His recipient, Amber responded, “He’s done this many times before. Tokyo, the island, London (remember that?!), and I always stay. Always believe he’s going to get better…And then every 3 or so month [sic], I’m in the exact same position.”

According to ET, the recipients of the message haven’t been independently verified as it’s still unknown whether the texts were edited.

Amber Heard cited “irreconcilable differences” when she filed for divorce from Depp last month.

The 30-year-old actress also claimed that “there was one severe incident in December 2015 when I truly feared for my life”, adding that Depp had been “verbally and physically abusive” during the entirety of their relationship.

In the income and expense documents filed by Heard’s team with the Los Angeles Superior Court, Heard’s total earnings last year from her films and promotions amounted to $250,000 (N49,777,500) while her expenditure was $209,000 (N41,613,990) which left her with a minute profit.

In 2016, Heard said she had made almost $27,000 (N5,375,970) — as of May 31 — from residuals from her appearances in projects including “The Cleveland Show” and “Magic Mike XXL”, although she has spent $55,000 (N10,951,050) on professional expenses for her production company.

Her claims of spending $44,000 a month on expenses is broken down as; $10,000 a month for rent, $10,000 a month for entertainment, gifts and vacations, $2,000 a month for eating out, $3,000 a month in health care costs not paid for by insurance, $2,000 a month on clothes, and even $300 (£207) a month on laundry and dry cleaning.

The actress also spent $2,000 on auto expenses and another $10,000 a month on miscellaneous costs such as pet supplies, and paying for her publicist and agent.

“Taylor and Adam had no big blowout fight, but the romance just was not there anymore for them. Adam is the one that ended it. It was all done in a very mature fashion. Taylor is pretty upset but they are still in communication. Taylor was there for Adam with his accident and supportive.”

People magazine also reported: “There was no drama. Things just don’t work out sometimes. No one cheated.”

The split comes as major shock to the whole world, as there were no signs of any crack in the relationships. “I’m just taking things as they come,” Swift told Vogue earlier this year. “I’m in a magical relationship right now. And of course I want it to be ours, and low-key…this is the one thing that’s been mine about my personal life.”

The aggrieved government workers in Ondo State have observed their first day of the indefinite strike embarked on by the labour unions over the failure of the state government to pay their 5-month salaries, entitlements, and arrears.

The industrial action, which started on Wednesday, June 1, was reportedly effective as courts, schools and all ministries, departments and agencies of the state government were shut down for the day, even as workers stayed away from work.

Quite a few government offices that opened early for their activities were forced to close as officials of labour went around to ensure compliance.

However, commercial activities were not affected even as private businesses continued normally.

On Tuesday, the civil servants, who are currently demanding for the full payment of their five months’ outstanding salaries from the administration of the embattled Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko, vowed to ground activities in the State.

An emergency meeting had been held in Akure were members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joint Negotiating Council, (JNC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and other allies of organized labor in the State issued a joint statement which reads in part:

“That it has become unbearable that workers have not received salaries for the past five months at a stretch.

“That non-payment of salaries to workers has affected the wellbeing of workers/pensioners, economically, socially, psychologically and health wise.

“Workers of Ondo State can no longer bear this situation, in view of the untold hardship suffered by these workers.”

The Federal Government is expected to inaugurate a 16-man technical committee that will be saddled with the task of implementation of palliatives designed to cushion the effects of the recent increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) commonly known as petrol or fuel on Thursday.

A statement with respect to it was issued and signed by Mr Mohammed Bukar, the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office, in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), on Wednesday in Abuja.

The statement explained that the committee will also examine other consequential matters arising from the hike in petrol price.

“The 16-member committee comprises representatives of organised labour and that of the government,” the statement said.

“It identified representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the committee as Peters Adeyemi, Amaechi Asugwuni, Ibrahim Khaleel, Igwe Achese and Segun Efan while those of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) include Augustine Etafo, Alade Lawal and Abdullahi Sale.”

“Leading the government representatives is the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, who is also the committee Chairman, while a representative of the Office of the SGF will serve as the secretary.”

“Other members of the government team are the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, and the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.”

“The list of government representatives also include the Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Chief Richard Egbule, Chairman, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission and Prof. Adamu Usman, a representative of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.”

The authorities of Rivers state have placed a momentary ban on the operation of motorcycles and tricycles in Gokana and Khana local government areas of the state, following the planned visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to the state on Thursday, June 2, 2016.

The prohibition, which would be effective between 6am to 6pm, was announced by the state governor, Nyesom Wike, in a broadcast on Wednesday.

He said: “As part of measures to enhance security during Mr. President’s visit, I hereby place a ban on the operations of motorcycles and tricycles in Gokana and Khana LGAs between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursday, 2nd June 2016. The security agencies have been directed to enforce this ban and ensure full compliance.

“I call on Rivers people, particularly the people of Ogoniland, to come out in great numbers and give our amiable President a rousing welcome during his visit.”

Mr. Wike also explained that the president’s visit was “historic” in two ways: one, it was his first to the state since he (Buhari) assumed office, and secondly, it was for “the largest environmental clean-up in our nation’s history”.

The president is expected to be in Rivers State today to inaugurate the clean-up of the Ogoniland ravaged by oil spill and production degradation.

The clean-up will be inaugurated at Numuu-Tekuru Waterfront in Bodo-Ogoni, Gokana local government in line with the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland’s environmental assessment.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has threatened to ensure the removal from seats two of its House of Representatives members for defecting to the All Progressives Con­gress (APC) on Tuesday.

Two PDP House of Reps members, Tony Nwoye (Anambra State) and Udende Emman­uel (Benue State), had on Wednesday declared their intention to defect to the APC.

In separate letters read by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, on the floor of the House, the two members cited to the division in the PDP as reason for their action.

They stated that since the PDP has split into three factions separately headed by Ali Modu Sheriff, Ahmed Makarfi and Jerry Gana, they do not wish to belong to any faction.

However, in a swift retort on Wednesday, the party said there was no faction in the PDP.

In a statement signed by the Secretary of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the party, Ojo Madueke, PDP said there was only one approved National Convention which took place in Port Harcourt on Saturday 21st of May, 2016, which, it said, was, in accordance with the PDP Constitution.

The statement read: “The rank and file of the Party have resolved to work together, and PDP has never been stronger than it is now since its entry into the honourable role of a robust and principled opposition.

“Any suggestion of a faction, is at best ill-informed and ignorant, and at worst, is part of a grand plan to decimate the only political platform today, that is ready, experienced and able to honour the nation’s invitation to have a credible opposition party that will hold Government of the day accountable and thereby strengthen and nourish our young democracy.

“Let it therefore be understood by those of our members in the National Assembly who may be tempted to jump ship, or have already jumped, that on the basis of clear decisions of cases decided in the Supreme Court, they stand the risk of losing their seats in Parliament if they went ahead with their latest indulgence.”

“The pattern of PDP electoral victories all over the federation since the 2015 General Elections shows that where there is election arising from such vacancies, PDP will return a more credible and more loyal representative of the people.”

Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi inspects the Abuja-Kaduna Rail Project at Idu; the train from Kaduna to Abuja is now ready for departure.

Speaking to pressmen during the inspection and test ride of the rail project on Wednesday in Abuja, Amaechi averred that President Muhammadu Buhari will ensure the sustenance of the Abuja-Kaduna rail project, which was initiated by administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

His words: “Is it sustainable? The answer is yes because it’s on its own. If you say whether it will be subsidized, it will be. We are working out the details of how much it will cost to carry passengers and to maintain it”.

“We are looking at bringing Mr. President to commission in July. In two weeks time, they will do the test run of the track without passengers, after that two weeks, it will take another two weeks to do test run with passengers and it will be free of charge and that will take us to the end of June.

Which means by first week in July, we believe that the President will come and flag it off for commercial service”.

“At the beginning we had done the test run but then it wasn’t completed. Today it has been completed. So today is the first test run that we are doing on the completed standard gauge.

The signaling, communication, stations are all completed now so you can actually technically say today is the first day of test running the completed project”.

Amaechi also pledged that the ministry of transportation will partner with the Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure smooth registration of passengers without hitches.

The French forward, who moved to the Santiago Bernabeu from Lyon in 2009, has been frequently been tipped to move to the Premier League, with Arsenal and Man Utd among his suitors.

However, he has handed his Premier League-based suitors a blow after revealing that he would love to see out the rest of his career in Madrid.

When asked if he still dreams of retiring at the 11-time European champions, he told Marca: “Of course, but there is still a lot left before I retire. I always say that I am at the best club in the world, with that stadium, the fans, with a very demanding level of play, with the best players in the world.

“Far away from here, I do not know where I would go, truthfully. I do not see myself leaving to go somewhere else. This is the top. There are other clubs that provide a lot of money to play with then, but I do not like that. I like football and here is the best.”

Karim Benzema believes his French compatriot Paul Pogba would not have a guaranteed first-team place if he joined him at Real Madrid this summer.

Juventus midfielder Pogba is expected to be the subject of more transfer speculation this summer, with the likes of Barcelona, Real, PSG, Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea reportedly on his trail.

Madrid forward Benzema, who has played alongside the midfielder at international level, hailed the youngster but says he would have to fight for regular first-team action if he moved to the Spanish capital.

Speaking to Marca, Benzema said: “[Pogba] is a great player, he has done excellent things at Juve, although Real is another matter.

“But he is a very good player, he does very good things. Madrid have great players and he would have competition in his position, but that is normal here. It would not be easy, but he is a great player, I am sure.”